COCONUT EMERGENCE IN MALAYSIA

COCONUT (Cocos nucifera) in Malaysia are an important crop grown since long time ago. It is time for the local coconut industry to shine and having been overshadowed by oil palm for decades as claimed by industry observers. This is being driven by declining palm oil prices in long years ago and rising demand for coconut-derived products. But there are many challenges. For one, local coconuts cannot compete with imports in terms of price and scale. According to news reports earlier in this year 2020 in which the local coconut suppliers were calling for the government to regulate the import of coconuts. In their view whereby the influx of cheap coconuts from countries such as Indonesia and Thailand was currently hampering their businesses. The lack of competitiveness and perceived insufficient supply is due to many farmers choosing to plant the more lucrative oil palm instead of coconut trees. For me the coconuts are Malaysia’s fourth largest industrial crop behind oil palm, rubber and rice with most of the large plantations found in Sabah and Sarawak. According to a report by the Department of Agriculture Malaysia (DOA) that the country is among the top 10 coconut producers in the world although production fell between 2014 and 2016. Total acreage of coconut plantations had fallen from about 120,000ha in 2005 to 85,000ha recently. Meanwhile for the palm oil acreage and prices rose from 2006 to 2012 and recently from 2021 - 2022. Prices went on a general downward trend (except for a spike in 2017) due to oversupply and weak demand from top buying nations. From the report recently, prices were impacted by the EU’s decision to avoid palm oil due to concerns of forest clearing and environmental degradation directly linked to oil palm cultivation. This had serious consequences as the region was the world’s second largest importer of palm oil. The declining palm oil prices have caused smallholders to suffer a lot, especially those who only have 1ha to 2ha of land. This article in "Anim Agriculture Technology" I share hoe the revival of coconut industry in Malaysia should be.

The emergence of the coconut industry in Malaysia related to the demand for coconut products has risen over the past decade as a result of higher awareness of the health benefits of the fruit. The processed product from coconut expand from coconut water and coconut milk to desiccated coconut. Some coconut factory in which started out by selling coconut powder nowadays has changed so much since those days. In the early days when the selling point was convenience farmers could keep the product longer. Today it has moved one step ahead whereby consumers prefer to have coconut in liquid form so they do not have to mix it. Fifteen years ago some coconut product put it in a Tetra Pak and consumers can just cut it and pour the coconut milk into their curry or dessert. It was reported that some coffee drinkers are beginning to replace dairy with coconut milk while coconut water began seeing a surge in demand about 12 years ago. This is particularly so in countries that do not produce coconuts. A report from USA is one of them and now expanded to Europe, Australia, China and Japan. As reported by Linaco Sdn Bhd from Batu pahat in which the exports account for about half of Linaco’s revenue came from the US and China as being its biggest markets. The company is planning to tap the Middle East and already export for 40 other country currently. Many will ask at the weather there in which coconut water should be able to help them a lot. 

Another product that is enjoying an increase in popularity from coconut is Virgin Coconut Oil (VCO) despite some of the improvement of standards in the industry. While there is a lot of cases regarding 'cannibalisation' of other oil products such as soybean, olive and seed oil lately many are getting alternatives for healthy oils. Coconut oil is very stable. When consumer cook or deep fry using it, the body of the coconut oil does not change as much compared with olive oil. That is why people often warn you not to cook in high heat. Coconut oil has a very high tolerance to heat so that the structure and nutrients in the oil do not change with high heat. From my observation that virgin coconut oil is an emerging opportunity for small scale entrepreneurs and medium scale manufacturers in Malaysia. There is also demand for young coconuts that can be served and consumed in restaurants. The young coconut are quite expensive today costing RM5 to RM6 each. If we promote our coconuts accordingly it can be a good opportunity. The possibility for the use of the Malayan Yellow Dwarf (MYD) and Malayan Red Dwarf (MRD) varieties recommended because they can get more returns if they sell young coconuts. The other parts of the coconut tree can be used for various purposes. The coconut trunk for instance can be used to build furniture whilst the young leaves for ketupat and the fibre in which is the outer layer of the coconut are an important usage in the agricultural sector including cocopeat. Cocopeat is an important medium for plants to grow especially in fertigation technology and farmers in Cameron Highlands used it for wide range of vegetables selection and strawberry production. The coconut emergence industry in Malaysia should successfully gain more stake holder in the future. Thanks....

By,

M Anem,

Putrajaya,

Malaysia.

(July 2022).